From Sundance: ‘The Ugly Stepsister’ Will Make You Squirm

“The Ugly Stepsister” isn’t for the weak-stomached or, for that matter, the average-stomached. In this horror retelling of “Cinderella,” Elvira (Lea Myren) desires to marry Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) no matter the cost, physically altering herself through antiquated, tortuous surgical procedures.

“The Ugly Stepsister” is “Terrifier” meets “Wicked”; it neither shies away from the innate body horror nor moral underpinnings of its premise. The film’s most gruesome moments aren’t gratuitous. Instead, their absurdity helps call into question how far people will go to satisfy or exceed societal expectations. Is Elvira’s suffering-turned-transformation a commentary on diet culture? Ozempic? Botox? Plastic surgery? Sure. But the message goes deeper than any one of these things might initially suggest.

“The Ugly Stepsister” isn’t your run-of-the-mill didactic indie flick. If its pre-Sundance acquisition by AMC’s horror streaming service Shudder wasn’t indication enough, “The Ugly Stepsister” contains blood, creepy-crawlies, bile, blood, and more blood. That viscous, iron-rich, life-giving liquid dominates the film such that many of its best shots are bathed in a pink-red haze reminiscent of the stuff.

Let it not be forgotten that “The Ugly Stepsister” is an adaptation of a classic fairy tale story. Some elements of the film — like the cinematography, costume design, and set design — stay true to this whimsical source material, which only heightens the discordant horror of, say, Elvira vomiting up giant tapeworms. In the opening scene alone, Cinderella’s father remarries in a beautiful wedding ceremony — only to be undercut by his jarring, untimely death in the next scene.

As slasher adaptations of public domain characters continue to get greenlit, “The Ugly Stepsister” is a fresh take on a tired genre. For one, it isn’t even a slasher movie, despite having the trappings and tension of one. Killing characters is easy; torturing them and keeping them around, however, takes a certain level of finesse. In particular, there’s one sequence in which Elvira comes dangerously close to becoming one of a long line of stale public domain serial killers — which is quickly, cleverly, and horrifically subverted in the next sequence.

If “The Ugly Stepsister” were itself a surgery, it would be operated with a hammer — not a scalpel. In the film, blunt storytelling and blunt force come together to paint a portrait of a young girl’s body dysmorphia-turned-body horror. Cinderella (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) is Elvira’s direct opposite, one of very few — if any — unneurotic characters in the film. In her attempt to add complexity to a well-known tale, Blichfeldt doesn’t entirely escape the trap of fairy tale good-bad objectivism. Rather, she often maintains this status quo, and the film’s dark comedy leanings can make it hard to sympathize with Elvira’s deeply troubled character.

“The Ugly Stepsister” works best when it’s not just merely tweaking but thoroughly elaborating on its source material. Some of the standout moments in the film — like Cinderella’s relationship with a stable boy and Prince Julian’s arrogant remarks about Elvira — are original and add new depth to an old story adapted to a genre considered by many to be surface-deep.

Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. It’s easy to peg “The Ugly Stepsister” as just another horror film preying on nostalgic audiences in search of an adrenaline rush — something to make them squirm and groan and cover their eyes and peek through not-so-closed fingers. But “The Ugly Stepsister” simultaneously tells the story of a young girl who never quite fits in, who torments herself to futilely escape the torment of her despicable peers. Blood and guts are simply a vehicle in which the film interrogates a relatable type of horror in a fantastical world.

—Staff writer Joseph A. Johnson can be reached at joseph.johnson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @onlyjoejohnson.